Meeting People You've Known for Years

Victor, Ken, Paul, Francis, Halena, Tom, Angela, Kim, Fr. Ben

These people were great. I came to this Called 2 Serve meeting very skeptical on what it might be about. I'm thinking this is gonna be very one-sided, very emotional directed, very single-minded. After talking with all the leaders after, learning their goals and their directions, and praying with them after, I am very excited about the direction of this group. Whenever I leave my UCI youth group, Liwanag, at the end of the night I always have the best emotions from our conversations that take place afterward. This was another one of those conversational nights. People that I had grown up watching, people that I had watched grow up, were people that I was talking to for the first time tonight, and boy have I been missing out on some great friendships. Victor was great to talk to. I've seen him playing the guitar at mass for years and it was great to watch the buttoned-up, shy kid all grown up. Halena was a great person and she sings oh so beautifully as I've seen at mass, but never ever talked to her until today. Ken is white. I feel like I can really relate to Fr. Ben. And Paul inspires me because he's such a busy guy, yet always makes the sacrifices for God and his own youth group as well as others' (kinda reminds me of Mike). They are a very talented, very knowledgeable group of individuals that really believe in what they do. I'm also starting to believe in C2S. The potential it has is tremendous. It's potential just needs to be harnessed and directed in a way that everyone can relate to. I think the greatest strength of this group is its diversity as well as its guidance under Fr. Ben. Fr. Ben was a priest I watched grow up at St. Columban. Somehow I knew him before he was ordained and I really liked the guy. I must have talked to him before because he distinctively remembered me, but I cannot remember our conversation.

This night started off for me thinking that it was going to be a joke. It ended in a way that may be looked back on as a pivotal moment in my life. What am I going to contribute to this group? What can I do? I know that I'm not sacrificing Guiding Light or Liwanag, but will they view me as such? Maybe GL more than Liwanag, but maybe they'll also see my passion and want to see what it's about too. First things first, I would have to see this event in action to make any hard decisions.

Am I burning the candle at both ends too quick? Too much work? My throat is getting sore...I'm getting sick =/